Are You Hiding?
I felt in my heart this morning, that someone-somewhere needs a gentle reminder. Just like a child attempts to hide when they have done the wrong thing, or feels like they will get in trouble; as adults we often try to hide too. We hide the pieces of us that we fear being seen by others. Or the parts of ourselves we have spent a lifetime rejecting.
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation” – Oscar Wilde.
So many go through life living behind a smoke screen. I use this analogy to highlight that many of us try hide the truth of who we are from the world around us. Undermining our raw talents, beliefs, values and the very essence of who we are. We create an image or a front that is not a true reflection of the value we possess.
The question is why? Why would someone want to hide? Can they not see how incredible they are? Do they live in a pit of comparison that is so deep, that they have come to believe and accept that there is already someone out there far more experienced, gifted, and talented? Maybe the answers to the above do not resonate with you. As you simply don’t know- what you don’t know.
I am convinced that each of us knows someone just like this. Maybe you are that someone. That someone that goes through life playing small, afraid to step into your personal power. The fear of rejection and ridicule keeping you in a frozen state. Or? Past trauma could have brought you to this place also. The persona you have created having become so strong, that even you believe that this is the real you.
Let me pose a question here, how strong is your belief regarding what you bring to the world? Do you know without any doubt, that what you hold in your hands could potentially be a key that unlocks someone else’s prison? Read that again.
Your story of failure, success, imperfections, the WHO in your YOU; could be the key to someone else’s freedom! Does that thought bring some comfort and hope? Let me break it down even more… your story is relevant and important. YOU hold unmeasurable VALUE!
”We know what we are, but not what we may be”. - William Shakespeare
Have you gone through life believing you were an accident even before you ever took your first breath? Was your conception the result of a drunken one-night stand? An unplanned pregnancy? Did you grow up hearing that you were unwanted, reinforcing the belief that you are unloved?
I am going to share something I wrote on the inside cover of my son’s baby book. As a mum, I never wanted him growing up believing that he was somehow a mistake; based on my personal level of stupid.
Regardless of if we share the same beliefs, I want to drive it home that no life is a mistake. No one enters this planet from their mother’s womb void of purpose or meaning. The circumstances that resulted in your being here, are irrelevant.
“You are not an accident! Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did! He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were already conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you!” – Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life.
To the beautiful women reading this, resonating with the aspect of unplanned pregnancies. Your child is not an accident. Stop buying into that story. Stop allowing the waves of shame and that sense of failure to rob you of being allowed to enjoy motherhood. You were CHOSEN to be your child’s parent. You are enough! Your child holds just as much value as the children of the couples you admire who conceived their children through love. You are enough, and while I am here on this soapbox? You are worthy of love.
“You are who you are for a reason.
You are part of an intricate plan.
You are a precious and perfect unique design,
called Gods special little child.
You look like you look for a reason,
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
you are just what he wanted to make.
The parents you had were the ones he chose,
and no matter how you may feel,
they were custom designed with God’s plan in mind,
and they bear the master’s seal.
No, that Trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
so that into his likeness you’d grow.
You are who you are for a reason,
you’ve been formed by the masters rod.
You are who you are beloved,
because there is a God!”
Each of us are attached to a bunch of little stories and experiences that create the bigger picture. We may not like what we have had to live through; it’s up to us though how we allow it to play out in our lives.
Will we surrender to becoming the victim? Or will we choose to rise up and turn our story into one that reflects strength and meaning? Are you ready to step up and become the hero in your story? You do not need someone else to save you- you just need to make a choice to save yourself.
We each get given just one life. That means we only get one shot at making our life count. If you feel that you’re being called out of hiding after many years, I applaud you as you take your first hypothetical steps.
Journal Prompts
Am I living my life wholeheartedly?
What is my purpose?
What do I secretly wish for, that I could never share with another person?
What is currently holding me back from living my best life?
Am I willing to settle for mediocre?
What self-limiting beliefs do I need to put out with the trash?
Further Reading
